Structural Features of Glycol and Acrylamide Treated Jute Fiber

Changes in structural features of jute fiber subjected to (a) limited oxidation using K2S2O8 or NaIO4 and subsequently to (b) treatment with monomeric/oligomeric glycols or acrylamide under specified conditions have been investigated through X-ray defractometry, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry in the present study. Changes in surface morphology due to specified chemical treatments have been analyzed by scanning electron microscopic study. Observed chemical changes as revealed from FTIR-study have been explained through proposed reaction mechanism. Oxidative pretreatments by both NaIO4 and K2S2O8 causes some damage in the fiber surface structure, reduction in crystallinity percentage and show less thermal stability with generation of more-CHO groups in oxy-jute state; the treatment being relatively milder for K2S2O8 pretreatment than NaIO4 pretreatment. However, when K2S2O8 pretreated oxy-jute is further treated with either 8% dosage of acrylamide or ethylene glycol or polyethylene glycol or 1:1 mixture of acrylamide and polyethylene glycol-1500, it renders measurable improvement in surface appearance and morphology of jute fibers, somewhat increased crystallinity in fine structure, less thermal stability for polyacrylamide grafted jute, and higher thermal stability for ethylene glycol modified jute. However, the treatment of K2S2O8 pretreated oxy-jute with 1: 1 mixture of 4% acrylamide and 4% PEG-1500 renders a balanced improvement in all these structural features of jute fiber.